UTSA wins Chancellor's Excellence Awards

(Dec. 4, 2008)--UTSA was honored with two Chancellor's Excellence Awards at the 2008 University of Texas System Seminar held Nov. 9-11 in Austin. Established in 2005, the Chancellor's Excellence Awards recognize exceptional performance or best practices in key areas of external relations functions. UTSA won two of the seven awards given.

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The Office of University Communications was honored in the category of Outstanding Communications Efforts for the university magazine, Sombrilla, which celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2009. The judges noted: "The magazine shows dexterity in its use of typography, thoughtful art direction with an engaging cover and subsequent editorial spreads that work together to visually create a sophisticated hierarchy of information."

"It conveys a very current feel with great use of photography and illustration. The content was timely and the presentation exceptional. The resulting product is on par with many paid subscription publications and achieved on a much smaller budget. Compared to similar printed communication efforts, Sombrilla's quality and reach of the university's community are outstanding."

The Office of Advancement Services received the award for Excellence in Endowment Compliance. The judges noted: "The campus selected for this award showcased its entire Endowment Compliance program, including its new Endowment Monitoring System or EMS, its comprehensive audio-visual endowment compliance training module and its PowerPoint training designed to help account administrators write effective impact letters for inclusion with donor reports. By allowing endowment administrators and staff to have access to current endowment financial information, EMS has already resulted in decreases in accumulations and endowments with no expenditures -- magic words to any administrator."

Hosted by the UT System Office of External Relations, the UTSA System Seminar is a two-day conference that brings together representatives from all 15 UT institutions that are engaged in development, news, public affairs, communications, community relations, university relations, alumni programs, governmental relations and special events/programs.

With 185,000 students, the University of Texas System is the largest system of higher education in Texas and one of the largest in the country.